Research and development have been actively conducted because the organic electroluminescent element (referred to below as “element” or “organic EL element”) can achieve light emission with high luminance using a low voltage drive. The organic electroluminescent element has an organic layer between a pair of electrodes, an electron injected from a cathode and an electron hole injected from an anode are rebonded in the organic layer, and the energy of a generated exciton is used for light emission. The organic electroluminescent element can be provided as an element having various light emitting wavelengths, and can be expected to be applied in a wide range of applications due to fast response time, relative thinness, and light weight. Of these, the development of an organic electroluminescent element with fast response speed and high luminous efficiency is important in applications for full color displays and the like, and various development and research results have been reported in the past.
For example, patent document 1 describes obtaining an organic electroluminescent element where the light emission color is blue or blue-green, with favorable luminous efficiency, and improved longevity, using a compound where a heterocyclic ring containing a nitrogen atom is condensed in the major axis (positions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8) direction of a pyrene skeleton. Patent document 2 describes enabling light emission and increasing longevity in the blue region of an element, using a material that forms a ring by a single bond, methylene chain, or the like with regards to a condensed structure such as pyrene or the like.
On the other hand, the pyrene skeleton compound is conventionally used in other fields, and patent document 3 describes using a compound or the like with a condensed ether substitution group, such as a benzene ring linked to the pyrene skeleton through an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom, in an electrophotographic photoreceptor as a photoconductive material. Furthermore, patent document 4 describes an organic transistor using a compound where a heterocyclic ring containing a sulfur atom, oxygen atom, or nitrogen atom is condensed in the major axis (positions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8) direction of a pyrene skeleton, but does not allude to the use of an organic electroluminescent element. Note that in patent document 4, a compound having a substitution group in the minor axis (positions 4, 5, 9, and 10) direction of pyrene was not specifically examined.